Should mature minors or people whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness be able to decide to seek medical assistance in dying? Should people with chronic conditions be able to make advance directives so that if they are incapacitated their wishes will nonetheless be carried out?

Whether it was due to political unrest, international criticism or the EU’s threats, in July President Andrzej Duda vetoed two controversial bills – one that would have breached the Polish constitution by increasing the political influence on the council that recommends judicial appointments – thereby putting more power into the hands of the Justice Minister, who would have also been given the ability to promote trainee judges.

The CBA revisited the need for adequate funding for courts in a letter to the Justice Minister in early July which called for a mechanism to ensure ongoing funding for the Federal Court, Court Martial Appeal Court, Tax Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin’s announcement in June that she will be retiring at the end of 2017 means the government will soon start the process to fill her seat on the Supreme Court. Once again, the CBA is asking the government make an appointment based on merit, ensuring that the Court reflects the full diversity of Canada’s regions, legal systems and population.

Child labour has largely been eradicated in First-World countries yet people who congratulate themselves for not forcing their country’s children to work for pennies also benefit from that kind of labour elsewhere, by paying lower prices for consumer goods.

When the federal government passed its Medical Assistance in Dying Bill, it identified the monitoring of information about who is taking advantage of MAID as a “critical component” of the new regime. But the better part of a year later, says the CBA’s End-of-Life Working Group, there’s still no system in place to collect it.